The fishery defines the culture and heritage of Newfoundland and Labrador. But historically, it was merchants who wielded power and reaped the bounty created by workers. This changed in 1971 when a group of dedicated people created what was then known simply as the Fishermen’s Union. Their goal—which was derided as idealistic and doomed to failure—was to change the power structure of the fishing industry to ensure workers could finally obtain their rightful share of the wealth. But the naysayers were wrong, and the union has survived market crashes, industry restructuring, divisive corporate campaigns, scandalous levels of foreign overfishing, and devastating fish stock collapses.
Authors
- Published in
- CA
- Rights
- Earle McCurdy
Table of Contents
- Cover 1
- Title Page 2
- Copyright 3
- Table of Contents 4
- Author’s Note 6
- List of Abbreviations 12
- Milestone Events 1970–2020 14
- Chapter 1. Pre-existing Conditions 26
- Chapter 2. “A Match to a Blasty Bough” 38
- Chapter 3. “Never Again Will We Beg” 49
- Chapter 4. Goodbye Co-Adventurer System, Hello 20th Century 58
- Chapter 5. 1980: United We Stand 70
- Chapter 6. "Some People Might Have to End Up on Welfare” 78
- Chapter 7. “Dog Eat Dog and Vice Versa” 89
- Chapter 8. “How Are We Going to Feed Our Children?” 109
- Chapter 9. “A Famine of Biblical Scale: A Great Destruction” 118
- Chapter 10. Troubled Waters: The Onslaught of the Foreign Fleets 139
- Chapter 11. Restoring Hope to Coastal Communities 154
- Chapter 12. LFUSCo—A Lifeline for the Labrador Coast 166
- Chapter 13. The Yellow School Bus 173
- Chapter 14. The Endless Attack on Employment Insurance 186
- Chapter 15. “We’re the Women of the Union” 199
- Chapter 16. Working in the Plants: “Some Good Times and Some Hard Times” 211
- Chapter 17. What’s That Got to Do with the Price of Fish? 227
- Chapter 18. RMS: “Any Independence We Had Would Be Gone” 243
- Chapter 19. Owner-Operator: Linking the Resource to Coastal Communities 253
- Chapter 20. Promoting Safety in a Dangerous Industry 272
- Chapter 21. “More Than Just a Union” 283
- Chapter 22. A Comprehensive Science Program 298
- Chapter 23. Lobster: Creative Solutions to Difficult Problems 306
- Chapter 24. “Where the Power Comes From” 319
- Chapter 25. That Blasty Bough is Still Burning 329
- Appendix A 339
- Appendix B 342
- About the Author 353
